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Thursday, June 25, 2015

Adventures in Life: Crying Over Cantaloupe

Memories are a funny thing. I can be going along, in the middle of a normal day, and suddenly something I  see/hear/smell brings to mind a vivid memory. (Am I the only one that this happens to?!)

It happened to me yesterday, while I was cutting up a cantaloupe.

In the summer when I was growing up, I got to spend some time at my grandparent's house. A few days of just Gramma, Grandpa, me...and my little brother too. And one of my most favorite things to do with my Gramma Seger was to cook with her. She was an amazing cook. I am trying to think of something that she made that I didn't like...but I can't remember a single thing. She made the best of everything.

As you know, in order to cook, you need groceries. So she would take me with her into town to the little grocery store. I loved helping my Gramma at the grocery store. Everyone there knew her, because she worked occasionally as the sample lady. And I'm pretty sure she was the world's best sample lady...she always let kids have 2 samples! Ok, I'm getting off track - back to cantaloupe.

Whenever we were at the store my Gramma would always have me pick the cantaloupe. As we walked up to the bin in the fruit area she would say that she could never pick a good one, and that I was the best cantaloupe picker she had ever seen. She would say if I picked the melon, she knew it would be a good one.

I took my melon picking job very seriously, studying each one carefully. Looking, feeling, smelling for the best one in the bin, because Gramma said that I always found the best one.

Yesterday, as I was cutting a perfectly ripe cantaloupe that I had picked out, the memory of our trips to the grocery store came flooding back into my mind.

And I burst into tears...because I realized that those times with her, picking out melons, were so much more than just some fruit. She made me feel special. She encouraged me. She helped me develop confidence in my abilities...

Sure, it might have just been about the fruit then, and she might have been bad at picking out melons, but because she let me do it, I felt like I was contributing in an unique way to our meal. Another way in a long list of ways that she made me feel special.

So today, I am SO thankful that I have so many wonderful memories of the times that I got to spend with my Gramma Seger. And that even thought she has been gone from this earth for a few years now, I am thankful that I'm still learning lessons that she taught me long ago...even when they make me cry over my cantaloupe!




5 comments:

  1. ahhh - I love this. Such sweet memories.
    I think of my grandmother when I see homemade ice cream - that was our summer thing to do.
    memories are such a precious gift to be thankful for.

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  2. What a sweet memory to cherish!

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  3. This is such a sweet story! Isn't it funny how just one smell will take us back and let us revisit our loved ones?

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  4. Love this! Now I'm remembering things about my Nana and, oh.....just pass the tissues, will you?

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  5. Now, that made this Grandmother's heart smile really BIG! How precious and I so hope that my Grans will have such sweet memories of me one day. Happy new week!

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